Health Globe
For the Orbs used by the Sorceress in Diablo II, see Sorceress Orbs. The Orbs are a new type of item seen in Diablo III. It has been touted as the spiritual successor of the Potion system in Diablo I and II. Introduction The Orbs are, as the name suggests, small globes of energy that can be used by the character to replenish his stats. They cannot be carried in the inventory and are immediately used when the player clicks on them or runs over them. They have been seen in the Diablo III gameplay video and it seems that the player can use them by just running over them, much like a power-up in many action games. They are dropped by monsters along with their normal loot like Potions in the previous Diablo games. It has been revealed that some, more powerful, monsters that take a huge amount of damage to kill off will drop Orbs when their health reaches certain points of Damage. It has also been mentioned that there are some, as yet unknown, monsters that were created specially to drop Orbs when they are killed. The Orbs have been named the successor of the Potion system in Diablo III. The older method of chucking down Potions while fighting a powerful monster, effectively giving the player infinite health, will not work in Diablo III. Because Potions have been given reduced importance as they can no longer be purchased in Diablo III. In co-operative gameplay, when a player picks up an Orb, all nearby allies will also be replenished. Diablo III will emphasize more on skills and abilities than luck and faster hands. These orbs were introduced in order to encourage a faster gameplay experience. It gives the player a reason to kill in order to survive. Types The only types of Orbs seen as of now, are the Health Orbs, the base requirement for any character to replenish his life. A type of corrupted Orb has also been seen as the Ghostly Orb. It remains to be seen whether some new type of Orb can replenish Mana, or heal both Life and Mana like the Rejuvenation Potions. Health Orbs Health Orbs are red-colored globes that replenish the Life of the character. They are dropped by most of the monsters that have a higher health as compared to mana, like melee brutes and fighters. At the moment, they replenish 15% of the player's life. Mana Orbs Mana Orbs are supposed to be blue-colored globes of energy that replenish the Mana of the character. They are mostly dropped by mana-oriented monsters like spell-casters and shamans. They have not been seen as of yet, but are very likely to be present in the final game. Ghostly Orbs Ghostly Orbs are not power-up type Orbs. They are a kind of monster spawner that has been seen to create s. Controversy The Orbs were initially met with stiff resistance from the veteran gaming community, which argued that the globes removed whatever distinction Diablo III had from World of Warcraft. After much reasoning from Blizzard's side, the disgruntled members of the community eventually warmed up to the new idea. The inclusion of Globes and the reduction of the Potion system has invoked mixed responses from the gaming fraternity. Most of them oppose the latter of the two. While they feel that Globes will make the game play out fast and more smoothly, the removal of Potions was a price they did not expect to pay. Others saw the inclusion of Globes as making the game more childish, side-scroller type and more Zelda-ish, especially the news that some monsters would drop Globes at intermediate health states. It can be said that the Globes were as debatable as the Controversy over the cartoonish Art Direction. Trivia * Blizzard Entertainment made the decision to feature the orbs as it was reasoned that potions could potentially give the player to what essentially ammounted to infinite health, resulting in monsters that could remove said health with a single blow. Orbs would result in less invulnerable and powerful monsters and more strategic gameplay when it came to fighting them.2008-20-08, GC 2008: Diablo III Progress Report. IGN Accessed on 2008-21-08 References